Guild Wars Guru

Test Krewe notification sent!

4 pages • Page 4
Lishy
Lishy
Forge Runner
• #61
Oh, you will never guess who got accepted...


Well, time to wrap up my trolling, lulz, and childish acts. I'm going to get serious about this now that it's not just about a silly forum anymore. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I care about GW.

Don't worry though. I'll still be myself on GWG even though I'm not sharing any info of behind the scenes (Just like how I don't share one of the more recent, yet unreleased Chrono Trigger Crimson Echoes roms :P)
Minami
Minami
Site Contributor
• #62
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra View Post
*snip*
There are approximately 200 members of the Test Krewe.
Wow that makes me feel pretty bad actually...

Wonder what I managed to "miswrite" so badly in my application that I didn't get selected?

Just like someone earlier, I wanted to make my application short but sweet, thinking that Anet had so many to go through anyway.
It's a shame if that was my downfall, as I know I would've been a very active participant with unbiased views on issues and thought out opinions.
NoXiFy
NoXiFy
Wilds Pathfinder
• #63
For, "Why should we pick you?" I wrote, "for the lulz". It worked!
Shayne Hawke
Shayne Hawke
Departed from Tyria
• #64
Digital copy sent, I wonder how soon back I'll be hearing from them.
moriz
moriz
??ber t??k-n??sh'??n
• #65
it's in anet's best interest to accept those who know less about the game than they do. let's face it, sit the entire GW1 live team in a room with ensign, and he'll easily point out all the flaws in anything they come up.

speaking of ensign, i wonder if he got in... or if he even apply.
Owik Gall
Owik Gall
Wilds Pathfinder
• #66
*sigh* Congrats to all who have made it. My support goes out to all of you in hopes of generating productive feedback on the games content for improvement purposes.

As for me and the rest who did not make the roaster, let us still be a help to the game and the community as best we can.
Billiard
Billiard
Doctor of Philosophy
• #67
Firms conducting marketing research/tests typically take a cross section of the population as a sample in order to get a wide range of feedback. Because of this, they have to carefully screen feedback and be cognizant of the source.

After screening forums for information and feedback for so long I would expect that ANet has some mechanisms in place for doing the same in their own test.

Also, considerable research has shown that some of the best product changes and ideas have come not from experts/expert users but rather from average everyday users who have had to adapt the product to their particular situations and needs.
Captain Bulldozer
Captain Bulldozer
Wilds Pathfinder
• #68
Thanks for the response Regina. I have to say, though, that it seems like some of the things you detail as being important for selection would be quite difficult to determine about a player by simply reading a submitted response. Sure, you might get a halfway decent idea of communication skills (maybe), but I'd be surprised if many people could show their detailed knowledge of how skills work and how various aspects of the game are interconnected. I don't want this to turn into a flame war about who's qualified and who's not, but some of the choices we've been made aware of by this thread do seem to be somewhat questionable.

I know the the job of selection must have been tough. Going through thousands of applicants and having to chose just 200 (or so) of them could easily be very hit or miss. I would hope the test krewe is something that will not be a fixed set of players, as some will likely show themselves to not be up to the task of helping to improve the game. Is there any chance additional members will be selected as time goes on? Whether or not additional players might be invited to join, I think we can all agree we have high hopes for the test krewe. Let's hope those selected are indeed up to the task.
Billiard
Billiard
Doctor of Philosophy
• #69
Quote:
Originally Posted by moriz View Post
speaking of ensign, i wonder if he got in... or if he even apply.
Ensign reports not applying for the Test Krewe . . .
moriz
moriz
??ber t??k-n??sh'??n
• #70
Quote:
Originally Posted by Billiard View Post
Ensign reports not applying for the Test Krewe . . .
and i don't blame him one bit. we all know just how frustratingly incompetent anet can be, especially regarding skill balancing and pvp game design. ensign had the misfortune of working with anet a lot closer than any of us, so he probably felt it a lot harder. there's only so much a man can take.
Racthoh
Racthoh
Did I hear 7 heroes?
• #71
Oh well, didn't get in. Back to Aion.

Congrats to those who did.
Geod
Geod
Ascalonian Squire
• #72
I'm in Thanks Regina and Martin. Congrats to everyone else who did get in, and see you in game.
FengShuiDove
FengShuiDove
Forge Runner
• #73
Congratulations to all who were selected .
fenix
fenix
Major-General Awesome
• #74
At first I had no idea why ANet chose these people.

Then it clicked.

If they pick a bunch of people that are terrible, then when it comes to pushing through an update, the 'Krewe' will simply okay it, and if people disagree, then it's the Krewe's fault.

Grats to Axiom, Arky, JR and Auron. At least SOME decent players got in.
Wild Rituals
Wild Rituals
Lion's Arch Merchant
• #75
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoXiFy View Post
They chose at least one.

Yeah, Right

And you havent played in 8 months

This thread has ade me sad for the future of guildwars

But gratz to all those picked
Rampage
Rampage
Ascalonian Squire
• #76
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoXiFy View Post
They chose at least one.
Yeah, I heard Axiom got accepted.

Oh wait, you were referring to yourself. I must have missed that at first. Good one!
Black Metal
Black Metal
Desert Nomad
• #77
ok, I think this is going to be my first post ever sticking up for Anet.

There was a time not long ago (more like most of 2009) when people (I among them) bemoaned Anet for their late, underwhelming skill balances. We cited the poor excuses, lack of communication, misplace priorities, and lack of resources.

When the Test Krewe was announced, that was taken to be a step in the right direction: by shouldering some of this burden upon ourselves, we could lighten the load on Anet, which in theory should result in more frequent and timely skill balances, and I hope better ones. I further hope this will lead to Anet being freed up to create more content and maligned projects like......cough.....XTH.

I understand I may have a bit more positive outlook now that I actually was chosen, but I'll just end it with this: I was on the Hero Battles beta team, and while that was epic fail (though the reasons for that came much later), I made some sacrifices to do my best job. I rearranged my work schedule (which involved pitching to management that, as a 36 year old college-educated professional in a technical field [pharmaceutical lab analyst], I needed to come in a few hours later to beta test a video game for two weeks), and took the process very seriously (while not being BAMPH'ed by Andrew Patrick).

So let's give some benefit of the doubt and take the outlook that this hopefully will improve things from a player's perspective PLUS free up Anet Live Team to move on to new (or old but delayed) projects.

Personally I hope this kicks off very soon, but also that I won't have to rearrange my work schedule.
F
FoxBat
Furnace Stoker
• #78
New content (including quests, henchmen, any revamped skills) needs to be bug-free, that means idiot-proof. You need people of all levels to try out everything to make sure it's working correctly.

We don't want a few top guilds secretly working on the next great build and then trying to hide it. We want idiots to go out and pwn RA with their R/As in the open. We also don't want the next ridiculous gimmick seen as less of a problem because it's just running up against top 50 that have the skill to dismantle it.

We also don't need people getting so hung up on honor theorycraft that they miss the practical effects of X or Y change. AFAIK there will still be the place for the elitists to theorycraft and influence balance changes, but there will also be the room for anyone to make or break the results of that with their own hands before it goes live. The NF preview event was broken by Spearmen "nobodies", not by the top guilds of the time. Rebel Rising don't put any of the time into practicing anymore that other top guilds do, but they were the only ones with the balls (dishonor?) to run R/As with hexers and destroy that MAT.

There needs to be people willing to try stupid, dishonorable, risky, or unobvious things, as some of them will hit on something ridiculous, be it bug, balance, or design flaw. A group of just the best and the brightest aren't necessarily going to do that. (let alone be amenable to Anet's workhorse schedules.)
moriz
moriz
??ber t??k-n??sh'??n
• #79
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra View Post
We were looking for experienced, opinionated GW players. In general, we looked at how much play time people had accumulated, what formats they liked to play, and whether they showed knowledge in those formats. We looked at what people wrote and looked to see whether they could convey their ideas and opinions in a clear, understandable way. Communication skills = important; if we can't understand people, it's a challenge to incorporate feedback. We looked to see whether potential volunteers had a clear understanding of the game and how everything interconnects, in terms of skills, in terms of balance, the meta, etc. We were looking for people who we thought (based on their statements) could give us quality feedback, whether that feedback was potentially supportive of development decisions or not. Of course, people who applied to the Test Krewe are fans of the game, but that doesn't mean all we wanted are folks who wouldn't question the development team's ideas. We were looking for people who wouldn't necessarily be universally supportive of everything we have planned, but who could also back up their opinions with explanations that showed a strong underlying knowledge of the game. At the end of the day, the goal of the Test Krewe members and the development team is the same: to improve the game.

Now, everyone who applied to the Test Krewe were giving us a sort of "sales pitch" on their ability to provide us with quality feedback, and we hope the applicants who "talked the talk" in their applications will be able to "walk the walk" when they actually come to volunteer their time with us.

There are approximately 200 members of the Test Krewe.
honestly though, i thought what you were looking for are a bunch of worker drones to endlessly test things. without knowing the above, i kinda half-assed my application... come to think of it, i think i only included the number of hours on my ranger, and missed the total account hours. oops. is it possible for me to redo my application and send it to you or martin, in case there's an opening in the future?
Ec]-[oMaN
Ec]-[oMaN
Desert Nomad
• #80
Quote:
Originally Posted by FoxBat View Post
New content (including quests, henchmen, any revamped skills) needs to be bug-free,
Sums it up, "bug free" I highly doubt anything along the lines of more meaningful skill balances will take place even with the TEST CREW being implemented.

Plus the time line of the test crew being announced after a few months of pve/pvp skill changes that had "Bugs" within the skills causing crashes or undesired affects relating to how the skill was suppose to work.

I'd be rather socked if there was more going on than this just being another layer of QA/QT.